Negroni becomes the best-selling cocktail in the world beating Old Fashioned

Jan 12 2022

Despite the Old Fashioned cocktail dominating the game in a seven year streak, Negroni managed to beat the rival from the top of the list as the most sold cocktail globally.

Ten years ago, ordering a negroni was considered as a secret handshake, a sign to bartenders that you knew what you liked and how to order it. Made up of equal parts gin, vermouth and Campari, the liqueur became the most sold drink in 2022.

These are some of the findings from The World’s Best-Selling Classic Cocktails 2022, an annual list put together by Drinks International.

The global drinks journal, which also runs the International Spirits Challenge, recently asked 100 bars around the world to rank their best-selling cocktails. After eight years in second place, the Negroni managed to finally climb to the top.

‘The publication notes that ‘this bitter ruby serve has ridden the wave of the classic cocktail trend, the bitter-drinks trend, the gin trend, the aperitivo trend, the Italian bartenders taking over the best bars trend – everything was carrying it forward.’

Meanwhile, Aperol Spritz is now in sixth place, and was named a top-five classic in a quarter of bars surveyed. Espresso Martini is also on the rise, jumping from number 23 from the first list to number 7 for this year.

The highest ranked gin drink is the dry martini in third place whereas for tequila, margarita comes in fourth. Daiquiri takes fifth place for rum, with the list rounded up by Manhattan, Mojito and Whiskey Sour in 8th, 9th and 10th place.

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Luke Chappell to drop new single ‘Waste My Time’ with American duo Playyard on January 14th

Jan 12 2022

The arrival of a new year means a lot of things, new opportunities, new perspectives and above all: new music. That said, one of Malta youngest and most promising talents, singer and songwriter Luke Chappell is kicking off 2022 with a brand new track and it’s a banger.

Collaborating with American act PLAYYARD, the track Waste My Time is scheduled to drop on all streaming platforms on Friday January 14th and based on the clip posted on Chappell’s socials, we can’t wait for the release.

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A post shared by Luke Chappell (@lukechappellofficial)

The single will be released on The Orchard, a division of American entertainment giant Sony Music and is the follow-up to Chappell’s last single ‘Hold On’, which garnered over 400,000 streams on Spotify.

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No Way Home overtakes Titanic on the US Box Office’s all-time top 10

Jan 12 2022

Spider-Man: No Way Home is continuously swinging it’s way up the all-time rankings, officially passing Titanic in the box office charts.

The latest instalment to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man maintained an incredible momentum as it approaches the one-month anniversary of its release already. It is now on the cusp of the top five after breaking the $660 million mark.

This means it officially overtakes James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’, which held US domestic box-office town for 12 years following its 1997 release.

Currently in sixth place with $668,753,195, No Way Home might even overtake Avengers: Infinity War next and could possibly even take a host at Black Panther if it manages to crack the £700 million limit.

Worldwide box office is very different from the US, as Avatar remains at the top with $2.8 billion in the global box office. Spider-Man is currently in eighth place with $1.5 billion.

But to be fair, none of the other films had a global pandemic to contend with. Therefore the web-slinger’s film deserves some major credit as it dealt with snap lockdowns and restrictions as it released. In fact, no other film released in the past 2 years even cracked the top 50.

Tom Holland’s third solo take of the web-slinger was massively well-received, with a fun but also emotionally hitting plot, brilliant performances and lots of surprises.

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Study suggests cannabis compounds stop COVID-19 infections

Jan 12 2022

A study published this week found that compounds in cannabis can prevent infection from the virus which causes COVID-19 by blocking entry into cells.

The study was published by researchers affiliated with Oregon State University, with a report on the research called ‘Cannabinoids Block Cellular Entry of SARS-CoV-2 and the Emerging Variants’ published online by the Journal of Natural Products.

The researchers stated that two cannabinoid acids commonly found in hemp varietals of cannabis, CBGA and CBDA, can bind to the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2.

Allegedly, by binding to the spike protein, the compounds can prevent the virus from entering cells and causing infection, potentially offering new avenues to prevent and treat the virus.

In an abstract for the study, the researchers wrote that ‘orally bioavailable and with a long history of safe human use, these cannabinoids, isolated of in hemp extracts, have the potential to prevent as well as treat infection by SARS-CoV-2.’

Although further research is needed, study leader Richard van Breemen said that the study shows the cannabinoids could be developed into drugs to prevent or treat COVID-19, with the cannabinoids being allegedly effective against new variants as well.

The researcher added that resistant variants could still arise amid widespread use of cannabinoids but the combination of vaccination and CBDA/CBGA treatment ‘should make for a much more challenging environment for SARS-CoV-2.

#MaltaDaily